Roque Tudesqui House - Historic Santa Fe Foundation

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The decade of the Great Depression saw major advances in preservation
and a broadening ofNPS jurisdiction. On the local level, the first
historic district was established in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1931. In
1933, the historic concerns of other federal agencies, such as War Department
battlefields, were transferred to the National Park Service. In
the same year, the Historic American Buildings Survey, a program of documentation
by photographs and measured drawings, was begun by the
NPS, the American Institute of Architects, and the Library of Congress.
Two years later Congress passed the Historic Sites and Buildings Act,
which directed the. Secretary ofthe Interior to do research, acquire properties,
restore buildings, erect markers, and develop educational programs.
In 1949 the National Trust for Historic Preservation was chartered
by Congress as a government-allied, private, nonprofit entity modeled
on the British National Trust. Supported by a combination of private
donations and Congressional appropriations, the Trust was to acquire
and maintain historic properties and provide education about preservation.
In its private capacity, the Trust would be able to respond more
quickly to specific preservation issues than government. Not coincidentally,
in broad outline this is the charge of the Historic Santa Fe Foundation,
which was incorporated in 1961 (with assistance from the National
Trust) as a nonprofit, educational organization that could acquire properties
for preservation and promote preservation through education, and in
these capacities, could respond more quickly than government.
Like the 1930s, the 1960s was a decade that included social
upheaval and national uncertainty.
It was also a period of renewed federal
effort in preservation. The Historic Landmarks program was begun by
NPS in 1960. Historic preservation formally became an area of academic
endeavor when Columbia University inaugurated the first graduate program
in the subject in 1964.
Most significantly, the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966
created the National Register of Historic Places and the Advisory Council
on Historic Preservation. This legislation outlined a consultation process
that requires federally funded or licensed undertakings to consider the
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